Western athletes boycott the Beijing Olympics?

Aussie2Aussie · 26 March 2008

Well I voted yes, the Chinese government will only understand one thing and that is humiliation.

I saw Kevin Gosper on TV last night defending the Chinese government, saying that there has been "significant human rights reform in China over the last decade", these IOC bosses are the very epitome of blind greed.

I love watching the Olympics - but this one will be a sad show piece against a background of corrupted morals by the hosts and the franchisor.

jman2007 · 26 March 2008

juw177 said:
Dalai Lama only gets all the western media coverage because he is a hollywood celebrity in Asia spreading western influences.

What of USA use of torture and Australia's handling of refugees? How many innocent people were killed as a result of the US invasion of Iraq?

Oookay.....

Can I ask you if you are working with the Chinese diplomatic services? The Dalai Lama comment is a little off the mark, and unfortunately it does sound like an "official" Communist Party line, whether intended or not.

The Dalai Lama supports the Bejing Olypmics in principle, and acknowledges the benefits it will bring to China. And I find it very hard to believe that he would have instigated this unrest in Tibet as the Chinese are claiming, it doesn't seem like his style at all. The Chinese have lost a huge oppportunity just before the Olympics to be seen coming to the table with an olive branch, and at least try to enter into dialogue.

Agree with you about the Wests record of human rights abuse in Iraq, and their treatment of detainees with out trial etc, the evidence of which is pretty much indesputable.

As for the boycott, well I tend to agree that some kind of prepared statement spoken at the correct time and place would have a huge impact. The one thing the Chinese wont be keen to be seen doing would be trying to gag journalists and athletes in and around Bejing with the World's eyes on them.

My
jman

I have exercised my diplomatic right and abstained from voting

juw177 · 26 March 2008

jman2007 said:
Oookay.....

Can I ask you if you are working with the Chinese diplomatic services? The Dalai Lama comment is a little off the mark, and unfortunately it does sound like an "official" Communist Party line, whether intended or not.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0482730/
http://www.dalailamafilm.com/
I am not Chinese, just highly critical, which is what these forums are for right?

The Chinese government also has tensions with Xinjiang: a region that wants independence and where protesters have been killed. But does it get any western attention?

Nobody can deny the Dalai Lama and the independence movement relies on western popular culture and the cliche image of a peaceful monk.

Dalai Lama accepted the congressional gold medal from president Bush last year. Why would a follower of Ghandi and preacher of peace accept this from the president's bloodstained hand?

And as quoted from wiki:

In October 1998, The Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. Government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and also trained a resistance movement in Colorado (USA).[51] When asked by CIA officer John Kenneth Knaus in 1995 whether the organization did a good or bad thing in providing its support, the Dalai Lama replied that though it helped the morale of those resisting the Chinese, "thousands of lives were lost in the resistance" and further, that "the U.S. Government had involved itself in his country's affairs not to help Tibet but only as a Cold War tactic to challenge the Chinese."

disarray · 26 March 2008

juw177 we're not discussing the USA, or australia, or the crusades, we are discussing china. there are plenty of threads there out in internet land about how bad america is and you can find the bias of your choice should you go looking for it. and believe it or not lots of people don't get their news from mainstream sources so please don't assume we can't do our own research.

deflecting criticism of china by going on about how bad everyone else is doesn't change the fact that the communist party of china are corrupt murderers. it's not the chinese people, its not the middle kingdom, its the communist party that is under attack for its policies, right at the time they want to show the world how awesome they are.

for example falun gong practitioners are put to death and have their organs harvested FOR SALE, the proceeds of which line the pockets of local party officials. there is no other word for this practice than evil.

following is a few pictures of tibetan women having their brains blown out in a roadside ditch by the chinese army. i spared the last 2 photos in the set but you can guess what comes next. maybe someone who can read chinese can translate the writing on her chest?

this kind of behaviour is unacceptable in modern, civilised society, and when the dalai lama starts ordering his followers to murder women then maybe the CCP will have a moral case, until then they are behaving like animals.

spaghetti said:
Plus we do not have any moral authority as a country do we?

we have plenty. a stable, multiethnic democracy with rule of law and adherance to human rights, we are perfectly justified in criticising other nations who fail to provide these basic rights, or even worse, routinely violate them.

juw177 · 26 March 2008

Point taken disarray. I was only putting things into perspective for the people that read the news then post on the internet Boycott the Olympics.

I am by no means defending criticisms of China and they can definitely do a lot better to project a good image. But there are always 2 sides to a story. Had the Tibet riots not happened, this topic would not have come up. It is still a mystery who instigated the violence, who has died and why this unfolded at such a sensitive time.

And you say it as if there only needs to be a change in government all problems will be solved. We only have "a stable, multiethnic democracy" because we killed the natives and took in middle class immigrants.

jman2007 · 26 March 2008

juw177 said:
And you say it as if there only needs to be a change in government all problems will be solved. We only have "a stable, multiethnic democracy" because we killed the natives and took in middle class immigrants.

Juw177,

As disarray said, there are plenty of other more appropriate arenas to debate these issues in , not only on ASF but the wider internet. Let's please try to keep this thread on topic

Thanks
jman

Happy · 26 March 2008

Since Tienanman Square massacre Australia and all other freedom-loving countries could try to do something then, not ask our athletes to do it for them.

tigerboi · 26 March 2008

Look for a mexico olympics a la black glove style protest by athletes as they accept their medals...

As for a boycott i say no reason being we still trade with them.we sell them our iron ore so it would be hypocrisy of the highest order...

Having said that i am surprised they got the olympics...tb

http://www.pekingduck.org/

2020hindsight · 26 March 2008

tigerboi said:
Having said that i am surprised they got the olympics...tb

Lisa Forrest has written a book - (heard her interviewed on radio ABC)
she says the same / similar thing
It's as if the Olympics are often given to a controverisal host country - as if they are wishing that the Olympics will heal some rift , or rise above the controversy.

Hence (I believe I'm quoting her correctly) they should use Athens for all Olympics.

disarray · 26 March 2008

2020hindsight said:
Hence (I believe I'm quoting her correctly) they should use Athens for all Olympics.

cypriot turks would probably object

2020hindsight · 26 March 2008

disarray said:
cypriot turks would probably object

1. ok - but good incentive for them to smoke a peace pipe I guess.

2. Maybe just imagine that the Greeks patented the flaming idea back there in the BC days (prior usage laws).

3. I notice the Cypriots used to compete under the Greek flag.

4. And have yet to win a medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_at_the_Olympics

Cyprus (CYP) has sent athletes to every Olympic Games held since 1980, although the country has never won an Olympic medal. The first modern Olympian from Cyprus was actually Anastasios Andreou, who competed under the Greek flag. At this time, Cyprus was a British protectorate.

2020hindsight · 26 March 2008

http://history1900s.about.com/library/weekly/aa081000a.htm

A History of the Olympics
According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already).

they even had streakers back in those days - a cook no less

At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Approximately 1500 years later, a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin began their revival. Coubertin is now known as le RÃ©novateur. Coubertin was a French aristocrat born on January 1, 1863. He was only seven years old when France was overrun by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Some believe that Coubertin attributed the defeat of France not to its military skills but rather to the French soldiers' lack of vigor.* After examining the education of the German, British, and American children, Coubertin decided that it was exercise, more specifically sports, that made a well-rounded and vigorous person.

his speech :- "At a meeting of the Union des Sports AthlÃ©tiques in Paris on November 25, 1892, Coubertin stated.. "

Let us export our oarsmen, our runners, our fencers into other lands. That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally. It inspires me to touch upon another step I now propose and in it I shall ask that the help you have given me hitherto you will extend again, so that together we may attempt to realise [sic], upon a basis suitable to the conditions of our modern life, the splendid and beneficent task of reviving the Olympic Games.** etc etc

fgzq88 · 26 March 2008

what a joke. she's not a Tibetan Woman from her appearance. this first line of writing says she's a voluntary manslaughter, and second line is her name which is han chinese naming. Is it so called that you know something about Tibet?

disarray said:
juw177 we're not discussing the USA, or australia,
or the crusades, we are discussing china. there are plenty of threads there out in internet land about how bad america is and you can find the bias of your choice should you go looking for it. and believe it or not lots of people don't get their news from mainstream sources so please don't assume we can't do our own research.

deflecting criticism of china by going on about how bad everyone else is doesn't change the fact that the communist party of china are corrupt murderers. it's not the chinese people, its not the middle kingdom, its the communist party that is under attack for its policies, right at the time they want to show the world how awesome they are.

for example falun gong practitioners are put to death and have their organs harvested FOR SALE, the proceeds of which line the pockets of local party officials. there is no other word for this practice than evil.

following is a few pictures of tibetan women having their brains blown out in a roadside ditch by the chinese army. i spared the last 2 photos in the set but you can guess what comes next. maybe someone who can read chinese can translate the writing on her chest?

this kind of behaviour is unacceptable in modern, civilised society, and when the dalai lama starts ordering his followers to murder women then maybe the CCP will have a moral case, until then they are behaving like animals.

we have plenty. a stable, multiethnic democracy with rule of law and adherance to human rights, we are perfectly justified in criticising other nations who fail to provide these basic rights, or even worse, routinely violate them.

2020hindsight · 26 March 2008

fqzq - you saying this is wrong as well ?
Chinese massacres in Tibet. Shooting at Tibetan pilgrims

juw177 · 26 March 2008

fgzq88 said:
what a joke. she's not a Tibetan Woman from her appearance. this first line of writing says she's a voluntary manslaughter, and second line is her name which is han chinese naming. Is it so called that you know something about Tibet?

Not to mention the photo quality and their hairstyles look decades old.

edit:
2020hindsight, wow that's pretty heavy stuff. Especially the part where they fabricated the story. However, the Tibetans knew what they were getting into when they try to cross the border illegally.

Tibetans there lived an extremely poor life. Their children have hardly any opportunity to receive education; moreover, they don't have any religious freedom. In order to ensure that their children have a good future, many parents take great risks to send their children to a "snakehead" who can help them cross the border to the Dalai Lama. Thus that is why majority of the refugee group are young people or even children. This kind of escape normally happens during the winter, when the security guards at the boarder are fewer. Every year there are as many as 2,500 Tibetan refugees that cross the boarder illegally. To date, of six million Tibetans, over 130,000 have successfully escaped to India or Nepal.

fgzq88 · 26 March 2008

2020hindsight said:
fqzq - you saying this is wrong as well ?
Chinese massacres in Tibet. Shooting at Tibetan pilgrims

Did I say that? What I said is the photos posted by disarray are not consist with what he said!!

BTW, what a great video, did you really see anything in it or just hear someone talking?WOW, those UFO videoes must be true.

just quote a comment from youtube:
If AK47 could do this, shoot at the target from this distance, then Russia would have won the cold war, and Iraq would have beaten US. So funny. This makeup video could only cheat those ....

If you watched the movie <shooter> , you should know what kind of gun are needed for such distance

juw177 · 26 March 2008

Hmm, that video was pretty big news. I am sad to read that. Why not just let them go to India. I mean, I can understand if border security stop people entering illegally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nangpa_La_shootings

jman2007 · 26 March 2008

fgzq88 said:
Did I say that? What I said is the photos posted by disarray are not consist with what he said!!

BTW, what a great video, did you really see anything in it or just hear someone talking?WOW, those UFO videoes must be true.

fgzq88,

I've never felt the need to say anything like this on this forum before, but you are seriously close to overstepping the line here my friend.

Please, if you can't carry out a discussion in a constructive adult manner, then take your sarcasm and cynicism elsewhere, because it is most definitely not welcome here on ASF.

jman

fgzq88 · 26 March 2008

jman2007 said:
fgzq88,

I've never felt the need to say anything like this on this forum before, but you are seriously close to overstepping the line here my friend.

Please, if you can't carry out a discussion in a constructive adult manner, then take your sarcasm and cynicism elsewhere, because it is most definitely not welcome here on ASF.

jman

well , I apologize to 2020hingsight what I said regarding the video and thank juw177 for the link you provided

disarray · 27 March 2008

fgzq88 said:
what a joke. she's not a Tibetan Woman from her appearance. this first line of writing says she's a voluntary manslaughter, and second line is her name which is han chinese naming. Is it so called that you know something about Tibet?

her race is irrelevant. the point is the chinese government condones blowing womens brains out in roadside ditches. this is not civilised behaviour, and it lends credence to accusations that the chinese communist party are a brutal and repressive regime that routinely allows human rights violations to occur.

p.s. we're not talking about tibet

Western athletes boycott the Beijing Olympics?

Should western athletes boycott the Beijing Olympics

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disarray

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